Katherine Renfro, a UC Berkeley staff member, joined students outside the chancellor's offices in California Hall on campus to protest the arrest of 65 students that had occupied Wheeler Auditorium until an early raid by police officers ended the conflict on Friday, Dec. 11, 2009.

Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle

Katherine Renfro, a UC Berkeley staff member, joined students...

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Dan Scott places his protest sign on a window ledge of the chancellor's offices in California Hall Friday Dec 11, 2009. The students are protesting the arrest of 65 fellow students that had occupied Wheeler Auditorium until an early raid.

Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle

Dan Scott places his protest sign on a window ledge of the...

Image 3 of 3

Dan Mogulof Ex Director of Public Relations for UC Berkeley found himself confronted by dozens of protesting students and faculty members Friday Dec 11, 2009 outside Sproul Hall. Mogulof conducted a twenty-minute conversation regarding the early morning arrest of 65 students that had occupied Wheeler Auditorium until this mornings raid.

UC Berkeley police arrested 66 protesters - some in stocking feet and underwear - at Wheeler Hall on campus early Friday, ending a weeklong occupation to draw attention to fee hikes and budget cuts throughout the University of California system.

Officers from the Berkeley campus and some from UCSFbegan arresting the protesters at Wheeler Hall at 4:40 a.m., said campus spokesman Dan Mogulof.

"There was no force, no confrontation, nobody resisted," Mogulof said. "At most, it was a wake-up call: They were sleeping."

The university had originally planned to let the demonstrators stay through Friday evening, when students had indicated they expected to leave. Final exams were scheduled for this morning in Wheeler Auditorium, where the demonstrators had camped out.

But when the students distributed flyers and sent out word via Facebook about an all-night hip-hop party Friday nightthat would continue "until the cops kick in the doors," according to one blog, police decided to roust the occupiers, Mogulof said.

"We acted in the best interest of the 34,900 students who were not participating in the protest," he said.

Of the 66 people arrested for trespassing, it appeared that 38 were students, he said. They were taken to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, where all but five were cited and released, Mogulof said. One remained in jail because of an outstanding warrant, and four were kept in custody because they had no California address, which makes them ineligible for quick release.

Students participating in the takeover on Wheeler Hall said it was a way for them to show that UC remains a public university at a time when the state is reducing tax-funded support of the school, and as students are forced to spend more on tuition.

They said they were determined to keep the auditorium clean, and never intended to disrupt classes or review sessions going on at Wheeler Hall.

"This was an experiment in student self-government," said Zhivka Valiavichareska, who participated in the occupation but wasn't at Wheeler during Friday's arrests.